The Martial Spirit — Why I Learned And Taught Kungfu

The Martial Spirit

Common questions I ask my students are: “What is martial arts to you? Why do you want to learn it? Can’t it be achieve by something else?”

For those already on the path, I assume their teachers would have told them this in lesson 1.

The path of martial arts is a humble one, one can make progress with brute force, but without wisdom and humility, one can’t scale heights. The chief poison to such attainment is ego. One has to cut off all engagement or indulgences that disrupts your character. This is 1 of the reasons why students in the past work as servants in the house of the teachers, and some schools even disallowed students/ disciples to wear fine clothes.

Martial arts was initially designed to be a tool of life and death, for the purposes of war, for that reason it is martial. Martial arts is to be used in time of contingency, to save lives, and not merely for self-preservation. A fortiori, it is an avenue of transcendental self-discovery and understanding of nature. For that, it is art. — Ursa

Martial arts is to be taught on 3 Greek domains: Pneuma, Psyche, and Soma. The lowest is Soma. The highest is to have a “good heart”. It is in the lore of (especially) Chinese martial arts. Martial also means power, but in Chinese martial arts, it is “Tao” (the way). In fact, the highest level is the hardest to attain, even Sun Tze said if 1 can decline to use even a single soldier and cause the city to surrender — that is ultimate victory. Thence, the character must be cultivated on the right precepts of values and virtues, with a conduction of intelligence and flair before the fist is passed to the student. This is albeit much neglected by many teachers. In all, it is almost a cliché “师傅引进门, 修行在个人” (Literally, it writes “The teacher lead the students through the pass, cultivation however depends on the individual.”). The master initiates the apprentices, but their skill depends on their own efforts. The master teaches the trade, but the apprentice’s skill is self-made.

Martial art is multi-dimensional, for that reason it is largely attributed to be the avenue for a wholistic approach to well-being and progression. Chinese martial arts has been blood tested in battlefields, many other forms of martial arts had been evolved and derived. It is important to study history of civilization and understanding the walks of progression. This is especially important for the practitioner when s/he requires drawing inspiration to evolve a form for her/his own. It may be almost inevitable from my personal experiences with older martial arts practitioners to come…